Facebook bid to lure young girl

A WANGARATTA man with intellectual impairment will be on the Victorian sex offender register for 15 years after contacting a girl, 14, on Facebook suggesting she visit him.

Adrian Paul Dowdle was already on the register for attempted bestiality when he made repeated attempts to get the girl to go to Wangaratta with sexual inferences.

He was found out when the communications between them were seen by someone and reported to the girl’s mother, who contacted police.

Dowdle, 31, appeared in custody in the County Court at Wodonga yesterday for sentencing on a charge of using a carriage service to transmit an indecent communication to a person under 16 and two counts of failing to comply with the Sex Offender’s Act.

Judge Marilyn Harbison said specialist reports indicated Dowdle had limited capacity to understand the implications of restrictions put on him.

She said a forensic psychiatrist had described Dowdle as being moderately disabled.

Dowdle had been involved in the attempted bestiality of a dog some years ago.

“It was an act of idiocy, but it carries automatic registration as a sex offender,” she said.

“The act was videod by your brother and circulated to his friends.”

Dowdle was severely ostracized, suffers social isolation and the video is still circulating.

“It is clear from the plea that you urgently need supervision,” Judge Harbison said.

Dowdle was convicted in November 2007 for attempted bestiality and put on the sex register.

He was 29 when the Facebook communication was made with the girl in November 2010.

There was a further breach of sex register conditions when Dowdle was seen with a boy, 14, in January last year.

“There is no suggestion there was any inappropriate contact or talk,” Judge Harbison said.

She said the prosecution had conceded that a community corrections order was appropriate along with a justice plan.

Dowdle was convicted on the two charges of failing to comply with sex offender conditions, but no further action as taken.

He was put on a three-year community corrections order on the other charge and ordered to attend sex offender programs as directed.

No more jail for sex act teacher

PHOEBE STEWART

October 31st, 2008

A TEACHER who indecently dealt with a Northern Territory student will not serve any more time behind bars after winning an appeal for a fully-suspended sentence.

Teacher Paul Incani, 40, disguised his 16-year-old student in sunglasses and a cap for a secret meeting at Lake Alexander, where he “dry humped” her, made her take off her bikini top and indecently touched the teen, a Supreme Court judge said.

The teacher only stopped his indecent actions when he was “interrupted by the sound of children’s voices nearby”.

Handing down his decision yesterday, Justice Dean Mildren said the schoolgirl had detailed her suffering in a “very dramatic and emotional” manner.

“The emotional language of the victim impact statement indicates that the feelings of pain experienced by the victim are deeply felt, but is also an indication of exaggeration,” Justice Mildren said.

He said her feelings of “self-loathing” and “sense of rage” could be attributed to Incani’s offending, which had “exacerbated” the kind of reaction “one would normally expect” from a “romantic” break-up.

The teen read her victim impact statement to the Darwin Magistrates Court in July, in which she said the incident had “ignited a loathing for my body” that made her want to “scratch off her skin”, leaving her with 27 self-inflicted scars and daily panic attacks.

And she had “wanted to die”.

Incani spent 10 days in custody after his arrest last year, but after pleading guilty he immediately launched an appeal against his 15-month jail sentence, which required three months behind bars at Berrimah prison.

But Melbourne-based Incani was not in court yesterday when Justice Mildren said the teacher was entitled to a 30 per cent discount for his plea and remorse, slashing his sentence to a fully-suspended nine month term.

Justice Mildren said magistrate Greg Cavanagh had erred in finding that Incani had conducted a “planned and sustained seduction” of his student.

The judge said there was no seduction and the facts of the case – including intimate text messages Incani sent to her since she was 15 – showed nothing other than a “willingness” by the “child” who was as “romantically involved” with Incani “as he was with her”.

He said Incani probably wanted the girl to disguise herself because he “must have known” their relationship was “foolish and improper”.

“(He) was very much in love with the child and wanted to meet her in a semi-private fashion,” Justice Mildren said.

Teen sex victim drama queen, says lawyer

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl who publicly declared a teacher destroyed her life by coercing her to perform sexual acts has been labelled a “drama queen” by a lawyer in the Northern Territory Supreme Court.

And Judge Dean Mildren said he found parts of the schoolgirl’s victim impact statement – which she read out to the Darwin Magistrates Court in July – “over the top”.

In her three-page statement, the teen victim said an incident where she was “dry humped” and indecently touched by her former 40-year-old teacher Paul Incani had “ignited a loathing for my body” that made her want to “scratch off her skin”, leaving her with 27 self-inflicted scars and daily panic attacks.

“I have stayed alive when I wanted to die,” she said.

Justice Mildren made the comment during Incani’s appeal against his three-month jail term for indecently dealing with the girl beside Lake Alexander with the “sounds of children’s voices” at a nearby playground. Defence lawyer Robert Richter, QC, told the judge he had written the words “drama queen” when reading her statement.

Mr Richter said sentencing magistrate Greg Cavanagh had erred in labelling Incani’s act a “planned and sustained seduction”, and the teacher’s 15-month partly-suspended jail term – which included three months of actual imprisonment – was manifestly excessive. Incani pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting the teen in July.

He began teaching the girl when she was 15 and the pair sent “intimate” text messages when he moved to Tasmania.

She relented to his requests to send pictures of her in lingerie, and when he returned to Darwin in May 2007, he disguised her in sunglasses and a cap for a secret meeting at Lake Alexander, where he made her strip into bathers, lie half-naked on his back and indecently touched her. Mr Richter said the incident was an “evolution of a friendship” and could described as “pashing on”. Justice Mildren reserved his decision.

Sex attack teacher gets 3 months jail… but walks free on bail

A FAMILY friend of a teenage student indecently assaulted by her teacher called out “not enough” as the man was jailed for three months yesterday.

And 40 minutes later the 40-year-old teacher was bailed by Darwin’s Chief Magistrate after he lodged an appeal against the sentence to be heard in the Supreme Court.

Melbourne-based teacher Paul Incani, who pleaded guilty to indecently dealing with the teenage Darwin student, proceeded to “dry hump” the girl at a popular picnic spot, indecently touch her and make her lie semi-naked on his back.

Magistrate Greg Cavanagh — who adjourned the matter overnight to consider the teacher’s fate — said he was “satisfied” he had breached his special relationship with his student, given the teacher had disguised the girl in sunglasses and a hat for a secret liaison at Lake Alexander last year and sent her intimate text messages.

“This was a planned and sustained seduction by a mature adult of a young lady,” Mr Cavanagh said.

“It was not something that was on the spur of the moment … (and) not something that was incidental to an innocent arrangement.

“To suggest otherwise is fanciful.”

He said the man’s crimes were serious as they were not “just a passing caress”.

And the teacher’s “great affection” for his student had destroyed his teaching career, with his name to be placed on the national sex offenders register.

“I’ve got no doubt that (he) knew he was doing the wrong thing but couldn’t resist the temptation,” he said.

He said the teacher’s actions had an “ongoing impact” on the girl, who yesterday publicly spoke of her despair and spiral into self-harm.

Mr Cavanagh said the teacher’s behaviour should be “denounced” as “outrageous”.

“He was entrusted with the tutoring by the young lady’s parents at home. He’s betrayed their trust and the community’s trust,” he said.

He sentenced the teacher to 15 months jail, suspended after three months.

The maximum penalty is eight years jail.

As Incani was led out of court, a family friend said “have a nice time”.

But his lawyer Peter Elliott lodged an immediate appeal, and chief magistrate Jenny Blokland granted him bail on strict conditions to return to Melbourne with his father.

Incani showed no emotion nor made any comment as he left court. He is expected to appear in the Supreme Court later this year.

Sex predator in jail: Tennis coach preyed on young players

Oct. 13, 2008, 10:42 a.m.

FORMER Warrnambool tennis coach Barry `Butch’ Heffernan has been jailed for five-and-a-half years in the United Kingdom for sexually abusing young players.Heffernan, 47, molested the teenage girls “week in, week out,” using their dreams of stardom as a means of control, St Albans Crown Court heard.Heffernan, who was head coach at Warrnambool indoor tennis centre from 1996 to 2000, set up a tennis school in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, seven years ago.Described as having a “hands-on” approach to coaching, Heffernan was in fact a “controlling, grooming and predatory” man who took advantage of girls in his trust.His abuse came to an end when he admitted a series of charges involving two young women earlier this year. Police are now appealing for any other former students who were abused by him to come forward.Jane Bickerstaff, for the prosecution, said Heffernan routinely pressed himself up against one girl on the tennis court telling her: “I can’t wait until you’re legal.”He later turned his attention to a second girl, touching her improperly and eventually luring her to a flat where he performed a series of sex acts on her, she said. “He was able to get away with what he did because he was coaching them and they wanted to become better tennis players and achieve their dreams and ambitions,” Ms Bickerstaff told the court. “They put up with the abuse because they thought their dreams would be smashed if they did not.” Judge Stephen Warner, in sentencing, told Heffernan he had brought dishonour on the game with his “manipulative” behaviour. “You used your undoubted talents to commit these offences and you brought the game you served well for many years into disrepute,” he said. Heffernan earlier pleaded guilty to six sexual assaults against one girl and two indecent assaults and two sexual assaults on another. Heffernan, who grew up in Wangaratta, was well known in Warrnambool and in 1996 played continuous tennis for 48 hours to raise money for South Western Community Care. – DAILY TELEGRAPH

Tennis coach to the stars jailed after indecently assaulting young girls

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:55 PM on 10th October 2008

A tennis coach who sexually assaulted two promising girl players has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Barry ‘Butch’ Heffernan, who claims to have taught legends such as Martina Navratilova and Bjorn Borg, made crude comments to the 14-year-olds and showered them with gifts.

The twice-married Australian then started touching them on the courts at the £10,000-a-year Down Under tennis academy he ran near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, and took one of them back his flat to carry out sex acts on her.

The girls allowed the abuse to continue for years because they feared their dreams of becoming tennis stars would be shattered if they reported him, St Albans Crown Court heard.

One girl later developed psychological problems, including anorexia, anxiety and depression, the court was told.

It wasn’t until the end of 2007 that his secret came out and he was arrested.

The silver haired coach sat head bowed in the dock as his crimes against the girls were outlined to Judge Stephen Warner.

After the case the police officer who investigated Heffernan said inquiries had led officers to Australia to interview previous victims and further victims were interviewed by FBI agents in America.

Detective Constable Duncan Prior, from Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: ‘We believe there may be other females out there who may have been victims in the past and I would urge those girls and women to come forward and they will be dealt with sensitively and in the strictest confidence.’

Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff said the girls had gone to Heffernan for lessons when they were around 14 and were promising young players.

Heffernan, 47, who has a conviction for deception in Australia, admitted ten offences of indecent assault and sexual activity with a child.

Judge Warner described him as ‘ controlling and predatory’.

Assault:

Miss Bickerstaff said the defendant had run a tennis club in Hemel Hempstead, known as The Down Under Tennis Academy, with his wife Angela since July 2003.

He also gave lessons to children from the area and began coaching one 14 year old girl on a regular basis.

‘She says he was very hands on and it was this hands on approach that led to the offences.

‘He would place his hands on her and stand behind her and when he pulled her back, he would push his erect penis through his tracksuit into her bottom’ said Miss Bickerstaff.

She went on ‘The girl said it happened for the next two years week in and week out.’ The court heard that Heffernan would also hug the girl as he stood in front of her, again pushing himself into her tummy.

The prosecutor said he also began making ‘completely innappropriate comments’ to her. They included him telling her she had a ‘nice arse.’ On another occasion, I can’t wait until you are legal, I can’t wait until you are sixteen.’ The court heard he began brushing past her breasts and would comment ‘Keep them bouncing.’ Miss Bickerstaff said Heffernan also showered the girl with gifts, including sunglasses, rackets and a tennis bag.

As the abuse continued, said the prosecutor, the girl began exhibiting psychological problems when she was 15, which included anorexia, anxiety and depression.

She said there were other problems in the girl’s life, but it was clear that what was happening to her at the hands of Heffernan was contributing to her problems.

The court heard when the girl was 16 she eventually found the courage to stand up to Heffernan and told him to stop what he was doing.

Miss Bickerstaff said as the abuse stopped on the first girl, Heffernan turned his attentions to another 14 year old girl who was coming to him for lessons.

On one occasion, he put his hands up her top and touched her breasts.

A few days later he did the same again and it became a regular feature whenever she came to him for lessons.

The court heard in 2005 he took the girl on a trip to France where he indecently touched her while they were sitting in a car together.

As the girl turned 15, Heffernan began taking her to his flat, where he would get her to remove her trousers and underwear before carrying out sex acts on her.

Miss Bickerstaff said ‘Clearly in both cases it’s the crown’s case that the defendant abused the position of trust he was in in relation to both girls. They were both promising tennis players.

‘He was able to get away with what he did for so long because they wanted to be better players and achieve their ambitions.’ Miss Bickerstaff said that both feared that if they said anything he would stop coaching them and their ‘dreams would be shattered.’ The court heard the second girl told her mother about the abuse in the Autum of 2005 and the police were called in but, because the youngster ‘clammed up,’ the matter was not proceeded with.

It wasn’t until 2007 that she made her complaint again and this time spoke to the police.

Arrest:

He was arrested last September and then, weeks later, the first victim came forward.

Miss Bickerstaff said the defendant was a man of good character in this country but between 1979 and 1999 in Australia, he had been convicted of matters of dishonesty and deception.

Defending, Tom Kark said, having grown up in Australia he had gone to the USA on a tennis scholarship where he had studied international business management.

His passion had always been for tennis and in 1983 he qualified as a professional tennis coach.

Mr Kark said working in America Heffernan had coached a number of players who had gone on to become household names.

In 2001 he had arrived in the UK and after raising £20,000 for a charity tennis event, which ended up in the Guiness Book of Records, he took over the Down Under Tennis Club in 2003.

Mr Kark asked Judge Warner to accept that his client was ‘verbally abusive to everyone’ and it was his style.

The barrister said Heffernan now realised that, with his conviction, he would never be able to coach children again.

The court was told the coach is now ‘genuinely ashamed’ for what he did and realises he has brought the coaching of tennis into disrepute.

Mr Kark said Heffernan’s wife Angela was standing by him.

Passing sentence, Judge Warner told Heffernan ‘You were in a position of trust as a tennis coach and used that opportunity to commit these offences against these girls. You were trusted by them, you were trusted by their parents.’ He added ‘It’s clear you were attracted to girls of this age and there is an element of grooming displayed here.’ The judge said the offences concerning the second girl had been the more serious and represented an escalation in his offending.

‘You controlled her by using her ambitions as a means of exercising that control.’ Referring to the pre-sentence report that had been prepared, the judge said that his behaviour had been described as ‘controlling, grooming and predatory.’ In addition to the five and a half year jail sentence, the judge disqualified him from working from children indefinitely and said his name must now go on the sexual offenders register.

The judge also made a sexual offences prevention order to run for seven years.

Charged coach says … I’m not a rapist

By ANDREW THOMSON

March 19, 2008, 9:52 p.m.

FORMER Warrnambool tennis coach Barry `Butch’ Heffernan will stand trial on rape and sexual assault allegations in October this year.At England’s St Albans Crown Court last week Barry William Heffernan, 46, known as `Butch’, denied two offences of rape and six offences alleging he had sexual activity with a teenage girl.The offences are alleged to have happened during a two-year period starting when the girl was 14 years old.Judge Michael Baker, QC, set the trial date for October 6.Mr Heffernan, who lives in Wiltshire in the UK and is on bail, resigned as director of the Down Under Tennis Club, which it is now under new management, called The Langley Tennis Club.He had run the Down Under Tennis Club in Hemel Hempstead. Mr Heffernan was head coach at the Warrnambool Indoor Tennis Centre from 1996 to 2000 and has claimed to coach legends such as Martina Navratilova and Bjorn Borg. Mr Heffernan was well known in the Warrnambool community and in 1996 played continuous tennis for 48 hours to raise money for South Western Community Care.

Child porn teacher in mental prison: magistrate

A FORMER Beechworth teacher involved with child pornography has avoided a stint in jail with a magistrate yesterday saying the sex offender was in a mental prison after being shunned by his community.

Ronald Hayes was convicted and given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, on a charge of transmitting child pornography, while also receiving an 18-month community-based order for production and possession of child pornography.

The former Beechworth Secondary College teacher, who had worked in Myrtleford, Rutherglen and Wangaratta as well, will have to undergo a sex offenders’ program and has been put on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Magistrate Reg Marron disagreed with the prosecution’s argument that jailing Hayes would assist in providing a general deterrent to the community.

“The four walls of his prison is what has been created by himself,” Mr Marron said.

“He will be shunned by the community in which he existed.”

Hayes was sentenced over the charges in the Shepparton Magistrates Court yesterday.

That was after a plea hearing in the same court last Thursday heard he had exchanged 6520 pornographic images and sent 2859 explicit pictures.

The pictures were mostly of males aged about 15, between 2006 and 2008.

He was caught by police after a complaint from the operator of a German internet site, with Interpol then alerting Australian authorities.

Police arrested him in May last year and he was then stood down by Beechworth Secondary College.

Mr Marron said Hayes was living a “parallel existence” with his family and teaching colleagues knowing nothing about his pornography habits.

He said these habits involved Hayes taking part in chatrooms and making generally “bland responses” about the images.

The magistrate added that Hayes appeared to operate in a “tiny, tight cell” with his internet activity but once it had been revealed he had lost his career and suffered personally, financially and emotionally.

Mr Marron said Hayes’ crime was not victimless, because those in the images were likely to be “ticking time bombs” with the sexual abuse they had suffered leading to difficulty maintaining relationships, fractured lives and a “great distrust” of adults because of the exploitation involved.

He said those in the pictures were probably from the Third World and unaware of how their image was being used.

Hayes, who has been living in northern NSW and receiving welfare benefits, plans to move to Melbourne to meet the demands of the sex offenders’ course.

North East teacher’s child porn shame

24/07/2009 9:06:00 AM

A FORMER Beechworth secondary school teacher caught through international links to child pornography was involved in what a police officer yesterday described as “prolonged activity in an abhorrent crime”.

Police prosecutor Sen-Constable Wayne Taylor called for a jail term to be imposed on Ronald Hayes, who has lost his teaching career and faces the remainder of his life on the sex offender’s register.

Hayes, 52, a long-time teacher in the North East, appeared for sentence in Shepparton Magistrate’s Court on charges of possessing, transmitting and making child pornography.

Magistrate Reg Marron was told in tendered police facts that Hayes was caught through a complaint from a German internet site to police which led to involvement by Interpol and notification to the Australian Federal Police and Victoria’s sexual crimes squad.

Hayes was identified as accessing the internet sites and downloading child pornography images.

It was discovered that a total of 6520 images had been exchanged by him, with 2859 sent by Hayes to different receivers.

Sites had been accessed by Hayes between 2006 and last year.

“There is no suggestion he has paid for any of the images,” Sen-Constable Taylor said.

Hayes was stood down from Beechworth Secondary College last year after police executed a search warrant and found pornography before arresting him in May last year.

Melbourne barrister Marcus Dempsey, for Hayes, said it was clear none of the images had been archived with much of the material found by police computer experts in a trash folder.

Mr Dempsey said Hayes had to make copies of files to transmit them and the transmission was over a short period of time.

The focus of the images was males aged about 15 years, but others were younger.

Mr Dempsey said he conceded it was serious offending with the number of images, the content of them and their transmission.

Sen-Constable Taylor said the Victorian Government in 2000 increased the penalty for possessing child pornography from two years’ jail to five years, with Attorney-General Rob Hulls saying there was a commitment to protect children.

“This is not a case of mere idle curiosity,” Sen-Constable Taylor said.